Carre of France, for his development of a closed, ammonia-absorption system, laid the foundation for widespread modern refrigeration. Unlike vapor-compression machines which used air, Carre used rapidly expanding ammonia which liquifies at a much lower temperature than water, and is thus able to absorb more heat. Carre's refrigeration became, and still is, the most widely used method of cooling. The development of a number of synthetic refrigerants in the 's, removed the need to be concerned about the toxic danger and odor of ammonia leaks.
The remaining problem for the development of modern air conditioning would not be that of lowering temperature by mechanical means, but that of controlling humidity. Although David Reid brought air into contact with a cold water spray in his modification of the heating and ventilating system of the British Parliament in , and Charles Smyth experimented with air cycle cooling - 56 , the problem was resolved by Willis Haviland Carrier's U.
Patent in , in which he passed hot soggy air through a fine spray of water, condensing moisture on the droplets, leaving drier air behind.
These inventions have had global implications. Gorrie was honored by Florida, when his statue was placed in Statuary Hall in the U. In , a monument to Dr. Gorrie was erected by the Southern Ice Exchange in the small coastal town of Apalachicola, where he had served as mayor in , and had developed his machine. Although the school lasted only a few decades, it had a profound influence, second only to the Philadelphia Medical School, upon the scientific and medical community of the United States in the 19th century.
Young Asa Gray, from Oneida County, New York, who by would be ranked as the leading botanist in the United States, and who in time would become a close friend of Dr.
Alvin Wentworth Chapman of Apalachicola, the leading botanist in the South, served as an assistant in the school's chemical department. In later years, Dr. Gray had distinct recollections of Gorrie as a "promising student.
Gorrie initially practiced in Abbeville, South Carolina, in , coming to the burgeoning cotton port of Apalachicola in He supplemented his income by becoming Assistant , then Postmaster in Apalachicola. He became a Notary Public in The Apalachicola Land Company obtained clear title to the area by a U. Supreme Court decision in , and in laid out the city's grid-iron plat along the lines of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Gorrie, who served as Vice-Intendant in , and Intendant Mayor , in , would be an effective advocate for the rest of his life for draining the swamps, clearing the weeds and maintaining clean food markets in the city. Treasury Department - , and a charter incorporator and founding vestryman of Trinity Episcopal Church, Apalachicola In , Frigidaire introduced a model with the machine built right into the door, a feature that is now commonplace in fridges around the world.
As the decades went on, manufacturers learned how to make different types of ice and ice-making machines. The first built-in ice makers made the crescent-shaped ice cubes you may have seen before, but before long, scientists figured out how to create molds to make ice in cubes similar to the ones that would come from a traditional ice tray. Manufacturers also began making ice making machines that could stand alone, such as the ones you'll see in the kitchen of a restaurant or at a bar, as well as smaller portable ice machines that could sit on a countertop or be easily transported and used for small events where ice was needed.
Additionally, ice makers were moving far beyond the home appliance industry. Manufacturers learned to make industrial-sized ice machines to provide several different cuts of ice for applications including the storage of meat and produce around the world, cooling concrete, creating artificial snow for theme parks or athletic events, important cooling mechanisms during manufacturing processes, producing fuel and freezing fresh vegetables or fish.
Plus, millions of restaurants and bars use ice machines in order to keep their patrons happy with the frozen or ice cold drinks that people around the world have come to love. Sometimes, people tend to take advantage of that easy access to ice, as well as to features such as built-in ice machines in the fridges of our homes and workplaces.
But perhaps next time you stop at the gas station to fill a cup with ice and bubbly soda, or enjoy drinking a cold glass of ice-cold water on a hot day, you'll remember all the inventors, tinkerers and scientists who made that luxury possible. Search for:. Follow Following. History of Innovation Join 26 other followers.
Sign me up. Already have a WordPress. Log in now. Loading Comments Even if it demands a miracle! Then he signaled for waiters to enter with bottles of sparkling wine on trays of ice. Mechanically made ice in the sweltering Florida summer: It was a sensation. Smithsonian magazine dubbed that party the " chilly reception. Gorrie received a British patent a month later and U. His business partner died, and Gorrie's inefficient, leaky machines were mocked in the press by the ice-shipping establishment.
He died in poverty and ill health in , still in his early 50s. It would take Frenchman Ferdinand P. Carre's closed, ammonia-absorption system patented in to make way for practical, widespread mechanical refrigeration.
The other Florida statue is Confederate Gen. Edmund Kirby Smith.
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